Somebody Else's

... grandchildren -- Sweed's and Benna's!  Aren't they cute?  That's Lorelei on the left, daughter of their second son, and that's Buddy on the right, son of their eldest son.  Buddy looks like Peter Frampton, no?

It was Nassau Day today here in town!  Festivities were supposed to start at 11.30, so AW and I made sure we arrived on time, and we were, too.  Due to some showers, it wasn't all that crowded in town, but there were nevertheless enough people, including a lot of children, who came to admire the medieval costumes of Engelbrecht van Nassau, Count of Nassau in Germany, who came all the way here to marry Johanna van Polanen, whose father was then Lord of Breda and, as such, had authorized the building of the castle in town, where he and his family lived.  Johanna was his only daughter, so when Engelbrecht married her, he inherited all his father-in-law's titles.  And that is how the House of Nassau, later House of Orange-Nassau established itself in this country.  The Orange part came when one of the Nassau women married a Chalon, who came from the County of Orange in France.  Their son, Rene, was childless, and upon his death, his title of Count of Orange passed on to his nephew, who was none other than William the Silent, Duke of Nassau.  William then became the Duke of Orange-Nassau.  But enough blah-blah.

We admired the costumes and listened to the speeches of the mayor and the organizer of the event.  After I had taken a few shots there, we walked to the castle, now occupied by the Royal Military Academy, which had been opened to the public especially for today.  Entrance was free of charge (normally, the public is not allowed in the premises unless accompanied by an guide from inside).  We walked around and were granted access to the inner courtyard.  The upper floors were off limits, but that was okay.  The weather had improved considerably, and I took several shots.

It was when we decided to walk back to the main square that we met Benna and her son, Lorelei's dad, and these two little ones.  Buddy's father is in Spain on business, and his mother is in Norway, also on business, so Buddy will be spending this week at his grandparents' house.  Sweed and Benna are thrilled to have him, of course.  Buddy has met AW several times and sees him as a kind of uncle.  They are wonderful to be with!

Before coming to the centre, I took time to do some supermarket errands.  Walked to the shops, picked my items, and then realized that I had left my bank card at home.  Walked back home, fetched it, and returned by car, as I wanted to be on time for the festivities.  We were back home at about 13.25.  I took the time to download the shots from the camera and quickly finished post-processing, after which I sent Benna the shots.  And then, at 14.00, I left for my appointment in Rotterdam -- a social call.  I was not able to visit ex-colleague Matthew and his wife and two young children last April, so we had set the visit for today.

It rained steadily all the way to Rotterdam, and the rain stopped just as I turned into their street... fabulous!  We agreed that it was so good to see each other again after a year.  The youngest, their 1-yr-old little boy, decided that I was okay.  COVID-19 has really had an influence on how people greet each other now as we're still careful about handshakes and hugs, but that did not spoil anything at all.  I hung around till almost 17.00, and it started to rain again as I got back into the car.

Some MOOCking and kitchen duties in the evening, and then, big, big mistake -- just before I got into bed, I decided to go over the document from Jay's lawyers in response to my petition, which the Viking had sent to me, paying more attention to the details.  I really should have left that for the next day.  It was so depressing to read, and had I had any cardiovacular disease, I could have been almost persuaded to have a cardiac arrest.  Instead, I looked at these two beautiful children and reflected on the beautiful day we had at the city centre and the cozy visit with old friends, and recalled being with Son and his lovely family last Friday.  I thought of all the things that I have been thankful for, especially my life with AW.  These are now what matter to me.  No evil spirits from 'back there' can touch them, or me.  There is a kind of magical charm now at work, protecting me, my life here, and all I love.